Part 8: Interlude #1: Shops and Status Updates

You'll probably be disappointed by the next fight, as I leave quite of bit of XP on the table. In my defense, there were morale concerns and well, you'll see.

Interlude: Shopping and Status Update



Why look, the shop is finally open! That only took four chapters. And this is the only chance to use the shop for another chapters. Why? Because that's just the way the game works.



The shops sells three types of items: Weapons, Stones, and amulets. Weapons are pretty straightforward. There are three types of weapon in this game, although only one character uses one of those types. We don't have that character yet, so we can only buy Swords and Spears. Everyone but Reyna uses Swords. The Swords for sale are the Gladius, which we already have, and the Preshuze and Quicksilver. The Preshuze is cheaper, and the only difference between the two is that the Preshuze gives you a point a DEX and the Quicksilver gives you a point of AGI. I'll take the savings and buy a few Preshuzes. There's only one new spear available and Reyna gets it. Unique ATACs almost always have their own special weapons that can't be unequipped, like with Zeira here.



Stones are the power sources of the ATACs. They come in four different version, one for each element. As of now, we have access to level one and two stones. Higher level stones give higher boosts to an attribute and unlock certain attacks. Fire stones are pretty solid. They boost POW, and fire attacks are pretty strong, if more FP=costly than is ideal. Water stones are okay. They boost DEF and give you decent attacks. Still, I'd rather avoid them if at all possible. Earth stones are junk. The boost BAS and unlock some generally mediocre attacks and one of only two healing spells in the game. You don't need healing spells. Stay the hell away from earth stones. Wind stones are the best, if only because of the one glorious attack that higher level wind stones unlock. Oh, what fun we will have then. Anyway, some unique ATACs have unique stones that can't be un-equipped.



Amulets cost a ton of money. You don't have a ton of money, and you certainly don't have a ton of money now. Each of the current amulets raise one of your stats by 2. Meh. There are some better one's later, but you don't ever really need amulets.

Anyway, let's take a look at our current party



Bastion

I slapped a level two wind stone on Bastion, though I can't remember why. Still, he's the most powerful unit we control.



Reyna

Holy fuck is Reyna's ATAC weak. Part of that is me choosing to boost her DEX instead of DEF, but part of it just has to do with the fact the Haurol is junk. Note that she now has Ice Shards, an attack unlocked by the level two water stone. It still uses the same stats as a normal attack to calculate damage and accuracy, however. I've given her a water stone for a mildly cool reason that will be revealed....in about a dozen missions.



Devlin

Devlin's got a new ATAC, and by new, I mean stolen from Galvas. The Serata is much better than Devlin's old Ratatosk and also comes with a level two fire stone. Which saves me some cash. I'm building up Devlin's POW because he has a fire stone and because I want him to someday be useful.



Barlow

Barlow, Barlow, Barlow. He's just...Anyway, I've slapped a wind stone on him because one day I'll make him useful, damn it! Just not today. On the plus side, he does have a lot of DEF, so he won't die easily.



Zeira

High stats, a powerful weapon, a fast ATAC, fucking awesome right? Wrong! You can't control Zeira in battles, so all he can do is suck XP like some sort of mechanical-centaur-vampire. That....made more sense in my head.



Galvas

You CAN control Galvas, though. Still, anyone who's played more than one RPG, SRPG or the like will know better to invest money and experience in an old man who starts at a higher level than the rest of your party. To that end, I haven't given him any new equipment and I've stuck him in a Ratatosk. It's not because I don't like you, Galvas, it's because nobody likes you.



Ah, but you've probably noticed the 'support' and 'dormant' tabs. We don't have any support skills yet, but I can show you Galvas' dormant skill. These are passive abilities that can do a variety of things. For example: Reflect Attack allows you to sometimes parry frontal attacks. Enemies almost never attack you from the front, so it isn't particularly useful. Chivalry provides a boost when you attack an enemy head-on, but not enough to overcome the boost an enemy gets from being attacked from the front. Snow Motion decreases the AP cost of moving through snowy terrain. No branch involves more than one of two fights in snowy terrain. Eventually, we'll get some dormant abilities worth a damn...but not today.

Next Time: The sins of man made manifest! The coming of Claire!